Residents Work To Make Neighborhood Safe Again

Police, Community Partner To Stop Crime

DUMFRIES — Williamstown today looks like most any suburban neighborhood. Children race bikes on the sidewalks while their parents mow lawns, wash cars and plant flowers out front.

Getting there wasn't easy.

Two years ago, the town house subdivision's 1,600 residents heard gunshots almost every night. They watched crack cocaine passing hands in the street. They worried that their children might be hit by stray bullets, harassed by thugs or recruited into gangs.

``I'm a single mom and I can't really afford anywhere else, but I was ready to leave here three years ago and move anywhere but here,'' said Michelle Sanders, a 37-year-old resident. ``I couldn't let my kids out to play, not even in the daytime. I was too scared of the gangsters next door. But things are better.''

In the summer of 1994, rival street gangs battled for territory in Williamstown, trading fists and gunshots. When police tried to intervene, they threw beer bottles, once smashing the windshield of a cruiser as an officer sat inside. Then a 40-year-old Williamstown man with a history of drug addiction was shot dead by a 16-year-old crack dealer.

Finally, the neighborhood, the police and Dumfries Town Council pulled together to battle the neighborhood's problems. In 1994, police responded to 936 calls for service in Williamstown. Last year, they handled 594 calls.

``It wasn't easy,'' said Jo Ann Porter, president of the Williamstown Homeowners Association. ``It was a lot of work. And if we get complacent about it, we'll be right back where we were four or five years ago.''

The Homeowner's Association pleaded with the Town Council for years to hire off-duty police officers to patrol Williamstown. After residents complained they didn't have enough police protection, the council approved the measure.

The association now pays off-duty Dumfries officers $20 an hour to patrol the subdivision during crime-prone periods, mostly weekends in the spring and summer, town Police Chief Calvin Johnson said.

For five months, police ticketed people for every offense, from loitering to noise violations. ``We had to retrain these juveniles about what they could and could not do,'' Johnson said.

Problems with loitering and drug dealing started to go away. But police kept an eye on the ``key players'' involved in violence and street gangs, Johnson said.

``We're not allowing these people to take over the streets and intimidate the residents there,'' Johnson said.

While police cleaned up street crime, the Homeowners Association worked with town zoning officials to clean up the neighborhood.

Town building inspectors and the Homeowners Association sweep through the 466-unit subdivision twice each year, writing warnings to residents whose fences have toppled or yards have become jungles.

Once a week, town workers pick up trash, mow common areas and ensure the grounds are tidy, Porter said.

One of the community's more persistent problems has always been the apathy of some residents and property owners, she said. Enforcing architectural bylaws and insisting on cleanliness combat that atmosphere.

``People try to keep their yards up, they feel better about their property and they keep up the value of the homes,'' Porter said.

In 1994, town officers devoted 80 percent of their shifts to answering calls and complaints in Williamstown, where less than a third of Dumfries' 5,000 residents live, Johnson said.

Today, police spend time talking to kids or playing bingo with senior citizens, Johnson said.

``It's the concept of community policing,'' he said. ``We take pride in the fact that we're a small town. We know the community and the people in the community. That gives us an advantage. People trust us.''

Residents say things won't ever be perfect in Williamstown.

But Williamstown has not gone the way of other lower-income subdivisions, where the bad elements intimidate law-abiding residents, Porter said.

``I think more people have got to be more concerned about their community and get involved in their community,'' Porter said.